Keeping it short and sassy
From pixie cuts, stylish bobs to highlighting hair, women in Kerala are slaying the hair game.
How often have we been advised by our mothers and our grandmothers to oil, massage and apply various concoctions to achieve the traditional symbol of a beauty — cascading, lustrous black hair. Poets and lyricists have waxed eloquent about women with long hair. But suddenly the trend seems to have reversed. From being called ‘undesirable’, short hair has now become a style statement. Many celebrities have taken a fascination to short bobs or pixie styles, chopping off their luscious locks. Look around you and the chances are that one can see a number of young and middle -aged women sporting short styles or going ‘colour happy’, highlighting their hair in hues that outshine the rainbow. Experimenting with hairstyles like spiking, shaving, or trimming it close have also found a large number of takers in the state. Sporting short hair styles or bright hair colours are suddenly seen as a form of liberation or of strong women making a bold statement.
Actor Apoorva Bose has always been known for her waist length, thick tresses. Very recently the young actor decided to go scissor happy for a bobbed look. She says, “Basically, all my life I have sported long hair and going for the short look was an impulsive decision I took. I had come to Kochi from Delhi and wanted to trim my hair. But once here, decided to chop it short!” What helped Apoorva take the spontaneous decision was the change she was seeing around her. “The earlier concept of equating a Malayali girl with long hair is now moot. The Kerala woman is evolving and so are her thoughts and perceptions,” she states, going on to say, “A lot of people liked me in short hair and I have been getting positive responses from the majority. One reason for women going in for short hair is also for the comfort and ease in maintenance.”
While beauty and looks may be one reason for experimenting with hairstyles, another reason for many young and middle-aged women chopping off their tresses is also hair donation to cancer patients. Varsha Panicker, a Malayali settled in Mumbai and an artist, designer and entrepreneur, went completely bald when she donated her hair to cancer patients at the Hair for Hope event. Admittedly it was not an easy decision to make – she made it after deliberating for 3-4 months. “I have had long hair my entire life and my tresses were my identity. What triggered me to take the decision to go bald was that two of my aunts had blood cancer and I saw how obsessed they were about losing hair. I then decided to initially chop shave off my hair and then totally shave it off to donate it. It was a scary decision but one I made!” Varsha laughs when asked about the reactions. “People I only knew casually came over and told me how proud they were of me but some family friends criticized me asking how I could shave off my hair, being a Hindu woman. After a while, I decided there was no point in explaining to everybody and kept mum.
While donating hair for a noble cause is absolutely praiseworthy, there are some youngsters who use the word ‘donation’ to hoodwink parents. Confused? Celebrity hair stylist Sajith — of Sajith and Sujith fame — explains, “Short hair is trending now and I get a lot of youngsters who come to me asking for short hair. To appease their parents some of them lie saying they are donating their hair for a noble cause, while all they want is to bob their hair!” Sajith says long hair is no longer considered desirable. The trends of the West as well as the short crops of celebrities are also influencing youngsters, he opines. Sajith mentions that he gets a lot of request from girls for spikes, shaving the sides or making designs at the back and sides. Blue and gold colours are also in and Sajith expresses his surprise when he says, “The youngsters already have a particular style in mind and they do not listen to my advice or opinion but ask me to look at a reference picture and go for it.” He has female clients from class V to degree students who love to experiment with their hair.
Gargi Harithakam is a poet, novelist and activist who has never grown her hair long. In fact she laughingly says, “When I grew my hair once, people were surprised! I felt the maintenance was too much and did not grow my hair long again.” Gargi loves experimenting with her hair and had shaved her hair at the sides. Asked about the reaction, she says, “Since I am an activist, some people commented that it was a political act connecting me to the Dalit youth Vinayakan who died.” (Some pictures of Vinayakan had a similar hairstyle as the one sported by Gargi). She simply says, “I had seen some youngsters doing the style and liked it and so did it.” Actor and DJ Nandini who goes by the name DJ Envy went ahead and coloured the tips of her hair bluish green. A person who highlights her hair burgundy or brown, it was Sajith who asked her to experiment with the blue colour. “I loves blues and greens and so impulsively said yes!” She says the people around her were as excited about the colour as she was. Varsha sums up the trend correctly, “Living in Mumbai we have set perceptions about Kerala women but when I visit Kerala, I find it is as cosmopolitan a place as any metro, except that the kids speak Malayalam!”